Born From Iron - Iron Mountain Weekend

From Eagle River it's less than an hour and a half to Iron Mountain in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and a beautiful drive through National Forest the whole way!

We stayed at Summer Breeze Campground, not very outdoorsy, but one of our neighbors had an Airstream with Rosie the Riveter on the side and that was pretty awesome! Michigan campgrounds tend to be set up oddly wherever we have been, with no rhyme or reason to where the water or electric are located and nothing but grass parking whether it is a state park or private campground.  And closer quarters than what we are used to in Wisconsin, but livable.

My appointments were done for the area before Wayne even arrived with the RV in tow, so we had lots of time to do the tourist thing.  The city park in Iron Mountain was actually really nice with everything from tennis courts, disc golf and hiking paths to a deer enclosure.  We settled for a stroll around the deer enclosure and inspecting a little bit of the disc golf course which was partially in the woods.

While looking for Fumee Lake Natural Area we found a replica of what appears to be the Mackinac Bridge complete with cars and a man on top.

Needing more exercise than Wayne did I explored nearby ATV/snowmobile trails on foot, and even picked a handful of early blackberries.  I looked all over for blueberries, but no luck!

Located right off the main highway in town is Fumee Falls, easily accessed from a wayside parking area.  The lower falls is pictured above, the upper falls is pictured below.

Iron Mountain went from an iron ore mining site with only handful of tents in 1879 to a boom town with a population well over 5000 by 1888 and by 1900 stood at 9,242 citizens.

Kingsford was the head of Henry Ford's operation, and the
neighboring Village of Kingsford is named for him.

Iron Mountain was also prized for its lumber, and Henry Ford even built a hydroelectic plant to process wood for his automobile parts here in the 1920's.  The population was up to 11,000 by 1930, but soon after that the area was hit hard by the Depression.

If you're looking for something to do outdoors, I recommend heading over to Piers Gorge, though you do have to pay $9 day use fee if you don't have the Michigan State Park sticker.

The Menominee River goes over a series of short drops and a walking path goes along the river with views all along the way.  We even got to watch a rafting group go over them.

It didn't look too bad as they dropped over the little ledge into the choppy water.

But everybody got pretty wet!

And then they bounced off the rock wall before heading on down the river.

One of the things we've noticed when we've visited the UP is that it is hard to get information on things to do in the area on the fly.  My advice is to plan ahead if you're passing through and want to make the most of things.  I can recommend eating meals at Holiday Kitchen, it doesn't look like much but the soup and bread were homemade and delicious.  And of course the Bakery Shoppe right in downtown has amazing treats!